Old Earth

Old Earth is a place of great contrast, as if there were two entirely different worlds wrapped up in each other.  There is the world of the great unwashed masses, were people live in ancient, barely functioning arcologies, often in the same compartments as their ancestors did.  These people live their entire lives, often without ever leaving the zone they were born in.  Despite their difficult situation, or because of it, the working class often dress in elaborate and brightly colored clothing and spend a great deal of their money on fashion and entertainment.  They can do this because there is a well-established welfare system to provide basic subsistence for those who need it (and almost everyone does).  The Megaplexes of Earth are some of the most dangerous urban areas in the galaxy, and few outsiders willingly venture out without some kind of arrangement with a local gang for protection.

The other world is the one inhabited by the political class.  These are descendents of the leaders of the old Federation.  After the collapse they began a program of emergency measures to ensure planetary stability and essentially made themselves a perpetual ruling elite.  Now they live in private towers in the few remaining nature preserves, far from the grimy hive cities that house rest of the population.  These massive homes will often house only a small collection of actual residents, but their will be a sprawling support complex that could be considered a small city in and of itself, with a population numbering into the thousands all to care for the needs of a few dozen of the upper class. 

When they wish to travel or congregate, the super-rich travel almost exlusively by aircraft or suborbital transport.  This way they can avoid even the sight of Earth's crumbling cities.  Very little is beyond the means of these few political families, but they have a tendency to avoid star travel, simply because they have it so good on Earth and there is little that they cannot afford to bring to them.